January 29, 2014

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

Instead, the university is making him look like a rapist while he never gets an opportunity to defend himself in court and seek exoneration.

That seems like a less than ideal solution as far as justice is concerned."

True, but it's a perfectly ideal system as far as satisfying demands to do something about a problem while maintaining the school's image and the problems of a legal trial. They can then claim they both took action and are tough against rapists without ever having to go through the trouble of the law.

There are editorials here and here that discuss these proceedings; summary is they are essentially kangaroo courts that allow the schools to split the difference of doing nothing and criminal trials (which aren't the schools decision anyway, to be fair).

Getting cameras and microphones shoved into your face during the NFL's biggest week is part of the price you pay for being a star in a big time league. Suck it up and continue to light cigars with hundred dollar bills. After all, the sports media is nothing more than the NFL's hype machine, especially Super Bowl week.

The NFL needs to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with Marshawn, a la Arthur Jensen to Howard Beale in Network.

Suck it up and continue to light cigars with hundred dollar bills. After all, the sports media is nothing more than the NFL's hype machine, especially Super Bowl week.

The media has been getting a ton of airtime through Lynch's refusal to be a willing participant in the theatre of sports journalism. They ain't hurtin'.

The vast majority of interviews are talking points and cliches. If you get too real (criticizing referees, the league, etc.) you get a fine. Richard Sherman gets called a thug by many for actually being emotional after a game. It's all bullshit, and I dig that Lynch is just calling it what it is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: No one in the NFL is paid to play football. They are paid to sell tickets and jerseys to fans and eyeballs to advertisers. Playing football is only a means to that end, which is why the Cowboys, Redskins and Texans are the first, third and fifth most valuable teams in the NFL despite none of them getting past the divisional round of the playoffs in 18 years.

Part of that is the stupid media stuff, because fans like the illusion of "getting to know" the players. Media Day sucks, but people are still watching.

Is this still true though? Media Day feels like a leftover from the days before round-the-clock Sportscenter and athletes on Twitter. What possible story is going to break via 12 hours of interviewing long snappers?

If he doesn't want to talk but is willing to do the bare minimum, the NFL has no room to complain.

Just because the media cover it does not mean people are watching. The interviews are by far the worst part of SportsCenter because they're exactly the same, over and over again. My informal survey of people I know seems to get more of a kick out of Lynch than anything - the only ones who seem upset are the journalists.

We aren't the target audience for Media Day and the rest of the required-media stuff. The target audience for it is the people who only watch the Super Bowl and don't know what the deal is with this Martian Lynch guy.